The Crew

Captain David Marciano

I was born in 1965 and graduated (finally) from Gloucester High School. I grew up in Ipswich and then Beverly MA. No one in my immediate family fished but I somehow caught the bug. When I was little my mother used to take me to one of the ponds in Ipswich and I would stay there and fish for hours. I even got "hooked" the first time, with a fish hook through my ankle. When my mother came to pick me up that day, off to the hospital we went. Cut cut, right through the hook, and slide it right out, easy as pie. After we moved to Beverly when I was about 9, we lived near the harbor so I could walk down to the docks and fish whenever I wanted. I soon became, and remain to this day, one of the best customers of Al's Bait and Tackle.

(I have been hooked many times, once even with a tuna hook, which I duck taped over for the rest of the trip until I could cut the hook and get it out. That was the last time I didn't bring a pair of wire cutters with me out on the boat!)

During high school I worked on my first boat, the Yankee Fleet. They are a charter fishing fleet who do day fishing trips and whale watching. During high school I worked at the fleet, and I also lettered in Cross Country track my senior year. After high school I stayed on with them full time and spent the winters with them in Key West Florida. I did that for a few years and it was quite the experience.

After working for the Fleet for a few years and getting my Captains license, I finally decided to take the plunge and buy my own boat, to work for myself. That is basically all I have ever wanted to do and I am grateful that I have this opportunity to work outside in all kinds of weather.

Along the way I married my wonderful wife Nancy, in 1990, and have 3 awesome kids. Angelica is currently a college student; Joseph is in high school and works with me on the boat during the summers and school breaks, and little Eva Rose is in elementary school.

All my kids and my wife love to fish and we have the best family time doing that. My wife actually has a record for catching a striper in Massachusetts. She has been fishing also since forever with her father, her older brothers, and then with me.

Currently I own the FV Hard Merchandise. She's a 38 foot, Danielshead solid fiberglass Novi boat. She's a beauty, and as sturdy as can be.

that's a big jaw bone

First Mate Jason Muenzner

I'm the first mate on the fishing vessel Hard Merchandise. I was born July 18th, 1988, grew up in Salem MA, went to Salem high school, and graduated in 2006 but did not do any college. If I'm not fishing I'm on some sort of board - either a skateboard or snowboard. Fishing is a big part of my life now because of my uncle Dave. He really took me under his wing and showed me the tricks of the trade, and I'm so thankful for that.

The first time I remember fishing is with Dave - I don't remember if we caught any fish but I remember having a good time with my uncle. The most memorable time fishing was when I caught my biggest fish, out with Dave and my cousin Joe. I remember that we were desperate for a bite and we couldn't do nothing about it so we decided to go in the crowd off province town, but we still struck out so we came back to Gloucester and the next day we went north 20 miles and sat at a spot where we'd gotten a few that year. We were off on our own, battling dog fish all day but we could see that there was big fish around too so we just kept at it and hoped we could make the right connection. The dogs would not give us a break but all of a sudden the rod bends and we hooked a monster. The fish empties the reel at least 10 times. With a fish that big all you can do is wait till he gets tired, and 4 hours later we got a harpoon shot and Dave hits him good.

But the battle is not over; now its time to get this big guy in the boat. He was so big we had to have him come through the back of the boat. Lucky we have an open stearn! We knew it was a big fish but not that big. The thing's length was 129 inches long. And when we got back to the dock and got him on the scale, the solid piece of meat that we sold was 852lbs! Even the buyer said that was the biggest fish he had sold.

There is nothing in the world I want to do besides fish. It's such an adventure being there and the rush is unexplainable.

hang loose, Wilson

Wilson

We rescued Wilson from the island of misfit toys . Way back in the early 1880s when we sailed by - only stopping briefly on the island for water. After all what child would want to play with a ball that can't talk.